An ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a free, unique, and persistent digital identifier that stays with you throughout your research career. Anyone can register for one through a simple sign-up process.
Example: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097

Your ORCID iD links to your personal ORCID record, a researcher-controlled profile where you can log key academic activities, such as:

• Employment and education history
• Publications and datasets
• Grants and awards
• Peer review contributions
• Memberships and service roles

It can be thought of as your professional research passport, recognized across institutions, publishers, and funders worldwide.

Learn more by watching the videos below: “What is ORCID?” and “A Quick Tour of the ORCID Record”:

What are ORCID’s benefits for researchers?

An ORCID iD and record offer several key benefits for researchers:

• Disambiguation: ORCID iDs are unique and persistent, helping to clearly distinguish researchers—even those with similar names or name variants.
• Career continuity: Your ORCID iD stays with you across jobs, institutions, and sectors throughout your research career.
• Time-saving integrations: ORCID connects with grant applications, reporting tools, and journal systems—reducing repetitive data entry.
• Automatic updates: You can allow trusted sources (e.g., Crossref, DataCite, Publons) to add items to your record, saving effort and improving accuracy.
• Researcher control: You choose who can update your record and set visibility for each item (private, trusted parties, or public).
• Credibility: A complete ORCID record—especially with verified affiliations and outputs—can help establish your reputation and support research integrity.
• Privacy and trust: ORCID is managed by an independent, non-profit organization, and your data is never sold or tracked for advertising.

What are ORCID’s benefits for universities and research institutions?

Beyond individual use, integrating ORCID into institutional systems offers several strategic advantages:

• Workflow efficiency: Streamlines processes and reduces errors through automated information sharing and system interoperability—freeing up researchers' time for actual research.
• Name consistency: Helps manage consistent use of the institution’s name and confirms researcher affiliations across platforms.
• Researcher visibility: Increases discoverability of researchers, postdocs, staff, and students—and highlights their contributions more broadly.
• Career tracking: Supports long-term tracking of researcher and graduate career paths, including collaborations beyond the institution.
• Impact monitoring: Strengthens the institution’s ability to assess the reach and outcomes of internal funding and support.
• Policy compliance: Helps institutions align with funder and government requirements around persistent identifiers and research transparency.

Getting Started with ORCID

• What’s the difference between my ORCID iD and my ORCID record? Your ORCID iD is the unique, persistent identifier (like a digital ID number). Your ORCID record is the associated profile where you can log and manage your scholarly contributions, affiliations, and activities.
• Do I have to register for ORCID? Not necessarily, but it's increasingly encouraged by funders, journals, and even institutional systems as a persistent and unique way to identify yourself and ensure your work is credited correctly and streamline workflows for you and for the system you are working with. See the growing list of publishers that require it and the guidelines relating to it in terms of decreasing the work for researchers 
• Is ORCID only for faculty?  No, graduate students, postdocs, and even undergraduate researchers can benefit from having an ORCID iD, especially as they start building their research profile.
• I already have profiles on other platforms. Do I still need ORCID? ORCID serves a different purpose—it’s a trusted, non-profit infrastructure tool that provides a persistent, interoperable ID recognized by funders, publishers, and institutions. You can (and often should) use ORCID alongside platforms like Google Scholar and ResearchGate. 

Privacy, Control, and Maintenance

• Is ORCID safe? I want to limit what’s online.
  Yes (as much as anything is anyway). You control what appears on your ORCID record. Every item has its own visibility setting: public, visible to trusted parties, or private. Your email is hidden by default unless you choose to display it.
• I don’t want to manage another profile. Is this just more work? 
  Not necessarily. ORCID can actually save you time, depending on how you choose to use it and which systems you interact with. You can authorize trusted systems, such as Scopus, Crossref, or even MRU, to auto-populate your ORCID record with relevant information, reducing the need to enter it manually. 
• Do I need to update my ORCID record regularly?
  That depends on how you use it. Auto-connections can reduce your effort, but you may need to add some items manually, especially if they come from systems not yet integrated. More systems are adopting ORCID, so keeping your record up to date is getting easier.
• Can I delete my ORCID record?
  Yes. You can close your account and remove your data from public view anytime. You can also export your data before deleting it.

Using ORCID in Practice

• How does ORCID help me get credit for all types of research contributions? 
  ORCID supports more than just publications; you can include datasets, software, conference presentations, peer review activities, professional activities, service roles, and funding. This helps you better showcase the full scope of your work, not just what's traditionally published.
• Can I use ORCID for teaching or service-related work?
  Yes. You can include activities like invited positions and distinctions, committee service, editorial board membership, peer review, student supervision, and teaching roles,. This can be especially useful for highlighting the broader scholarly impact of your work.
• What happens if I move institutions or change emails?
  Your ORCID iD stays the same. It’s designed to follow you throughout your career, regardless of where you work or study.